Men’s Basketball Tips Season off at Crimson Madness Live on ESPN3

Edosomwan took home the dunk contest title and was the top scorer in the intrasquad scrimmage (Zach Williamson).

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Harvard men's basketball team tipped off its 2015-16 season Friday night in front of 1,481 fans with its annual Crimson Madness event, broadcast live on ESPN3 as part of ESPN's Midnight Madness coverage.

The night featured a dunk contest, 3-point competition and intrasquad scrimmage, giving fans their first glimpse of the Crimson. Harvard also welcomed several special guests to the event, with the Dean of Harvard College Rakesh Khurana, former Harvard standout Jonah Travis '15, and women's basketball captains AnnMarie Healy and Kit Metoyer helping to judge the dunk contest. Adding to the excitement was NECN sports anchor, Chris Collins.

Zena Edosomwan dethroned two-time defending dunk contest champion, Agunwa Okolie, in the final round to claim the 110-107 victory. Okolie took the lead with a perfect 40 in the final round, slamming home a 360 windmill. However, Edosomwon channeled his inner Michael Jordan, matching Okolie with a perfect 40 of his own by leaping over four fans to slam home the winning dunk.

Edosomwan and Miller paced the Black team to a 43-30 win over the Crimson team in the intrasquad scrimmage. Edosomwan dominated the low-post and led all scorers with 22 points and seven rebounds. Miller chipped in with nine points, all coming from beyond the arc and Matt Fraschilla dished out a game-high four assists. Okolie led the Crimson with nine points while Weisner Perez added eight points.

Edosomwan ignited the charge for the Black, scoring the first three buckets of the game and was unstoppable all night. The Crimson closed Black's gap mid-way through the half to make it a 16-14 game, but the Black responded with an 11-0 run to take a commanding 27-14 lead and never looked back as it downed the Crimson, 43-30.

Harvard will return to Lavietes Pavillion on Nov. 7 as it hosts McGill in an exhibition at 3:30 p.m. The Crimson will tip-off its regular season the following weekend versus MIT on its home court on Friday, Nov. 13 at 7:45 p.m.